Day 8: Week 2! California Here we Come!

Well out mom asked us if we were able to "escape from Las Vegas" - the answer is yes, and we have made it to my new home State of California! Oddly enough, I actually have really enjoyed Vegas both times I have been there. Once you get past the overall problem of a large city consuming mammoth amounts of water and electricity in the middle of a desert (if you can ever get past that...) it is an interesting place.

Most visitors to LV seem to fit into one of two groups (at least based on how they dress in 100-degree-heat): "white trash", or those who go to evening dinners dressed in their american flag/nascar tee shirts, and "socialites", those who dress up in eveningwear and full-blown make up and hair for everything (even a morning coffee run). Of course, there are lots of "normal" people too...whatever that means...but they don't really grab your attention.

Will went on a walk while I did some work with some interesting affirmations of what he thought he would find: slot machines along the walkways and no places to sit so that people who are tired will just sit at the slots (and hopefully play). Change given in really large bills so you tip bigger or are more likely to change out more money for chips at a time that you would have otherwise. Casinos designed like black holes so you can't find your way out to another one, thus your money is held captive.

Will and I had a fantastic time though...I got a ton of work done in the afternoon while it was still hot, then we walked around the shops and tried to find the baby dolphin at the Mirage (turns out you have to pay a lot to see it....we should have seen that one coming). We took the fun little tram over to Treasure Island and caught the very begining of the fantastically (or awfully depending on your mood) cheesy pirate show and won $5 in blackjack before eating a super delicious awesome yummy dinner at the c. The food there was just as good as I had remembered. One of my favorite things in Las Vegas is not just the food, but the service - which is almost always outstanding. It puts every other city in the world to shame. Man are they on top of their game! Anyways, our meal at social house consisted of a lot lot lot of delicious sashimi including white king salmon (which i didn't know existed!). We finished our meal in the perfect time to walk to the Bellagio, get drinks (don't worry mom, will had Ginger Ale), and sit in our FRONT ROW tickets to Cirque du Soleil's "O". Our tickets say "splash zone." Wow.

First of all, the theatre itself is an amazing piece of art. Second of all, the show was...."Wow!"

For those of you who are not familiar with the dozens of shows that are put on by Cirque Du Soleil, "O" is the one that is done partially in a giant pool of water (thus employing not just former olympic gymnasts, but former olympic divers and synchronized swimmers as well!). By the end of the show I still had 3/4 of my drink left because my attention was so glued to what was going on. I don't think I have EVER seen a performance that complex, nor executed so smoothly. I kept thinking about all the stuff that went on backstage at my shows or when I worked with Carolina Ballet - what went on at "O" was so complex that I had nothing to compare it to. It was beautiful. Even Will thought it was "OMG AMAZING" and "highly entertaining"....he also (being a former Techie) was super impressed by the set and execution. His other rave was "it was impossible to fall asleep in"...which I'm sure he never said about any of his sister's dance performances. I wont give anything more away about the show because I highly recommend that you go see it. Yes, the tickets are super expensive. Yes, when we bought them I highly doubted that it would be worth it. But....it was. Wow. After the show we toured the Bellagio gardens and checked out the flowers. We also saw a store that was selling a ton of Chihuli that was pretty freakin beautiful as well.

So that was it, our Vegas experience. It was delicious.

We just passed through Barstow California. That's right North Carolinians....I-40 does truly end in California...in the middle of basically nowhere! We are on our way to eat at the In n Out Burger in Bakersfield (we figured this was fitting for our first meal in California) and then to Sequoia National Park.